


Day 9: Soundwave

by GemmaRose



Series: Lost Light Fest 2019 [8]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: First Meetings, Functionist Universe (Transformers), Gen, Language Barrier, Protectiveness, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 08:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20963381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: In a universe without the Decepticons, Soundwave meets Rumble and Frenzy under slightly different circumstances.





	Day 9: Soundwave

**Author's Note:**

> second time ive posted one of these with the wrong number, wtf @ brain

Soundwave wasn’t bothered by much. So long as he and his cassettes functioned, so long as they had fuel and somewhere safe to recharge, they were better off than they had been in the past. Really, working for Shockwave as a lab assistant and occasional test subject was a step up from working for Ratbat. His cassettes got their own fuel rations, he didn’t have to use his abilities to spy on other mechs for political gain, and not being the only outlier around was sorta nice too, in a way. Even if some of the others frayed his cables more often than not.

::Soundwave, are you available?:: Shockwave commed him, and Soundwave looked regretfully at the mixing board he’d finally finished setting up. He pinged back an affirmative answer. ::Excellent. Could you meet me in the common area off the main lab? We’ve a slight situation and I could use your expertise.::

Expertise? Soundwave frowned behind his mask, looking at his cassettes dozing on the berth together. No, if Shockwave had wanted an optic in the sky or someone to go skulking around in the shadows, he would’ve told Soundwave to bring them. No need to disturb the trio when he was hopefully just going to be out and back. He slipped out of their room silently, and strode with purpose towards the central hub of the Academy. The sooner he finished this, the sooner he could get back to his cassettes and his music.

“Soundwave: present.” he said as he walked in the common room door, and Shockwave looked up from where he was crouched talking to a pair of... miners? Their kibble suggested heavy equipment, but the hazard stripes weren’t the sort found on construction mechs. They were so small, too. No taller than Ravage had been, the one time Soundwave saw him in root mode before it was stripped away in turning him into a cassette.

“Soundwave, perfect timing!” Shockwave stood, gesturing to the pair of minis. “These two don’t speak Iaconian, and my Kaonese is terribly rusty. Could you translate for us?”

Soundwave nodded, for once glad that Ratbat had made him install the datapacks for every major dialect spoken on Cybertron. The intent had been so that his outlier abilities would never be hampered by a language barrier, but it had been helpful in so many other ways since then. Soundwave took a seat on the floor in front of the two, and even without using his outlier abilities he could sense the bond between them. The lower castes didn’t sparkbond as freely as upper caste mechs did, especially not labourers in fields as risky as mining, which meant they were almost certainly brothers.

“Hello.” he said to them, and the red one perked up. “Designation: Soundwave. Query: purpose?”

“I’m Rumble.” said Rumble, pointing at himself. “This is Frenzy. We’re miners. Or, we were.”

“Past: irrelevant.” Soundwave assured them. “Concern: purpose for coming here.”

“It’s Frenzy.” Rumble said, the arm around his purple and blue brother tightening. “He’s sick.”

“Academy: not medically equipped.” Soundwave frowned, and Frenzy shivered in his brother’s hold.

“It’s not a medic thing.” Rumble said, optics damp at the edges. “We heard that mech over there’s collecting outliers. I thought...”

“Frenzy: possesses outlier ability.” he guessed, and Rumble nodded quickly. “Shockwave: will assist.” he stood and turned to Shockwave, who was looking at him with blatant curiosity. “Frenzy: damaged by outlier ability.”

“His own, I presume.”

Soundwave nodded.

“And the other is an outlier as well?”

Soundwave hesitated. “Uncertain.” he admitted after a few nano-kliks.

“Would you like to tell them, or should we get them Iaconian datapacks and I do the honours.” Shockwave smiled, grim and humourless. Soundwave had overheard enough calls from the Council’s representatives to know that since the dissolution of the Senate, Shockwave had little to no political capital left with which to shield new outliers; he was only able to guard them from cruel and invasive experimentation by being the first to call dibs on them. If Rumble had no outlier ability, he would be impossible to protect, as useless to Shockwave’s research as-

“Soundwave: has an idea.” he said, and fired off a packet of data to Shockwave to explain his plan while he turned to address the little miners. “Shockwave: can protect Frenzy.” he assured Rumble, who looked as nervous as his field felt. “Rumble: possesses outlier ability?”

“No, but he’s my brother, I’m not leaving him.” Rumble squared his shoulders, clutching his brother tighter. “We’re a package deal.”

“Soundwave, I hope you know how to do this, because it is _far_ beyond my realm of expertise.” Shockwave said dryly. Soundwave politely ignored him.

“Shockwave: cannot protect Rumble.” Soundwave reached out to rest a hand on Rumble’s free shoulder, touching the other to the crystal armour over his dock. “Soundwave: can offer protection. Proximity to Frenzy.”

“What’s the catch?” Rumble frowned, fingers flexing against Frenzy’s plating.

“Protection: dependant on alt-mode reformatting.” he opened his dock, letting Rumble see the space inside. “Council: overlooks cassettes.”

“Deal.” Rumble said firmly, and shifted to push Frenzy towards Soundwave. “Now _help him_.”

“Care: will be provided.” Soundwave promised, gathering the small blue miner in his arms and rising to his pedes. “Shockwave: has lab prepared?”

“No, but it will be soon enough.” Shockwave gestured at Soundwave, then again at Rumble. “Follow me. Let’s figure out what’s wrong with your friend.”

“Brother.” Soundwave corrected, and Shockwave raised an optic ridge.

“And only one of them’s an outlier? How interesting.”

Soundwave laid Frenzy out on the lab table Shockwave indicated, and stepped back as the ex-Senator set to work. “He’ll be okay?” Rumble asked, and Soundwave nodded as he turned back to the door.

“Soundwave: has Iaconian datapacks in personal storage.” he gestured for Rumble to follow, and thankfully the small mech did. If things went well, by this time the mega-cycle after tomorrow he would have another cassette under his protection, and the newly arrived sparkbrothers would be able to start settling in properly.

**Author's Note:**

> As soon as Frenzy is back on his pedes and sees Rumble in his new altmode, he demands to be refitted to match his twin. Soundwave’s life gets _a lot_ more hectic after that, but he loves his little menaces very much.


End file.
